Believing himself near death, Henry Isaac Williams, an old bush pensioner, slipped unobserved from, Murwillumbah hospital on Wednesday night and went into the bush to die. "I want to get it over out there," he had said. "I don't want to die in a house."
When I set out for the West (said he)
On my last big tramp alone,
I could start the journey best (said he)
From the land I call my own.
For I want the skies and the friendly trees
And the bush-bound tracks I know,
And I want the bush birds' melodies
To cheer me as I go.
For there's none to point the way (said he)
When a soul sets forth to range;
And a soul might drift astray (said he)
In a city grim and strange.
For I'd head me east or head me west,
And I'd veer, and double back;
But in the land I know the best
I'd head straight up the track.
So set me free in the bush (said he)
Where the way is plain and straight;
And I'll need no urging push (said he)
Nor halt, nor hesitate.
But where the golden sun-shafts fall
Thro' fretted shades I'll roam
Till I hear the old gatekeeper's call,
Then I'll know that I've come home.
First published in The Herald, 17 November 1931
Author reference sites: C.J. Dennis, Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
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